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Tasmanian Championship Wrestling champion James Wrecks. Inset: Dylan Daniels and Diablo, who will battle one-on-one. Pictures by Harper Wyatte
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Tassie event 'unknown' 13 years in, but is still achieving first-time feats

Josh Partridge3 hours ago

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'The audience that we have are amazing and diehards.'

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Did you know Tasmania has its own professional wrestling company and it's in its 13th year of operation?

The Launceston-based Tasmanian Championship Wrestling will host its annual flagship event, Annihilation, on Saturday, February 28, at Elphin Sports Centre.

Co-owner Daniel Hawes is hoping Launceston's January and February period of major events will help grow TCW's biggest show after being able to access new forms of advertisement.

"I still have people that stop me in the street and say, 'I didn't know we have wrestling here', and I'm like, 'yep, we've been doing it for 13 years'," Hawes said.

"The audience that we have are amazing and diehards but it's interesting to know that we are still so unknown in the local community, so that makes it quite hard.

"The joy of coming off the things like Festivale, Foo Fighters and Party in the Paddock is that we were able to poster drops and pamphlets around those events, which gets the community invested.

"But also, being a much smaller, local event, you run the fear that the community is tapped out after three or four big events."

Tasmanian Championship Wrestling champion James Wrecks. Inset: Dylan Daniels and Diablo, who will battle one-on-one. Pictures by Harper Wyatte
Tasmanian Championship Wrestling champion James Wrecks. Inset: Dylan Daniels and Diablo, who will battle one-on-one. Pictures by Harper Wyatte

Despite hosting events around Tasmania since 2014, TCW is still finding new ways to captivate its audience, introducing a first-time match type on Saturday.

The battle between Dylan Daniels - Hawes' alter-ego - and Diablo is the company's first coffin match.

Also known as a casket match, it's a rare stipulation that's only occurred 22 times in professional wrestling's biggest company, World Wrestling Entertainment, with 17 of those featuring aptly-named wrestler The Undertaker.

"The idea is for the two wrestlers to battle it out and instead of pinning their opponent's shoulders to the mat or submitting them, they basically have to render them useless and roll them into the coffin," Hawes said.

"They will only win the match when they close the coffin lid down on their opponent, and that's how we crown the winner."

When asked how to prepare for such a match, Hawes coyly replied "it depends who you are".

"Diablo is somebody who has notoriously through his career been a controlling wrestler, whereas Dylan Daniels has been the other end of the scale and taken more of a beating than anyone on the TCW roster," he said.

"I'm sure both will play to their strengths, Dylan Daniels will put up with a lot of getting thrown around the ring, but is quite sly in his own right and will try and trick the devil and make him slip up."

Saturday night's event will feature six matches, including one with mystery opponents as TCW champion James Wrecks takes on two former champions to be announced on the night.

The other championship match is James Sly v Liam Lacey for the North Esk title, with another major stipulation in place as Zakk Archer is pitted against Doomslayer in a 'loser leaves town' match.

Elsewhere, Elliot Greyson takes on Deano, and Allie Galvin battles Charli Rose.

"It's a match that has happened before, around five or six years ago when Allie was very new, but the landscape has changed now," Hawes said.

"So that will be interesting to see a TCW alumni returning to face a very prominent up and comer."

Tickets for the show can be purchased at https://events.humanitix.com/annhilation-13.

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